warning semi long post That would be so cool if we did something like dday because axis cannons would be blazing. The axis would have shore guns, and 5 ships of their choice and the allied forces would have a maxumim of 2 battleships 2 destroyers and 7 landing craft. So funny if they put little people and tanks and stuff. The axis would suck in this scenario because, well we would only take out about 5 ships if we are lucky. You may not like it but hey it came from a 13 year old. I wasnt dogging the axis out because that is what i am. I prefer axis from allied because of their strength. If hitler didnt commit suicided and the musashi and yamoto werent distroyed we would be in a world of hurt. Any way back to the gameplay talk, the allied would have 15 to 30 minutes to get all of their landing craft onto shore then they would win. But dont forget the BUT if the axis sink all of the allied ships and landing craft which is a 20% chance the Axis would win. Here goes the scoring just like in any old battle most of the scoring is the same but this this time the battleships are worth 50 destroyers are worth 30 and the landing craft are 100. Tell me what you think?
I think you over-rate the Yamato and Musashi. Iowa and New Jersey likely would have spanked them. By the time Yamato and Musashi were sunk, and Hitler committed suicide the war was over, they were just determining the details.
http://www.westernwarshipcombat.com/index.php?set_albumName=album29&id=Landing_1&option=com_gallery&Itemid=85&include=view_photo.php http://www.westernwarshipcombat.com/index.php?set_albumName=album29&id=Landing_2&option=com_gallery&Itemid=85&include=view_photo.php That is the only 1/144 scale landing craft capable of landing a tank. It doesn't always work, but it sure is cool when it does. Unfortunately, he doesn't score any points for landing the tank, only for making laps. The current cargo rules allow us to pretend we're doing the D-Day landings (without beaching the ships, of course), evacuating Dunkirk, running the Arctic convoys to Russia past the Tirpitz, trying to bring fuel back to Japan, running the Tokyo Express to Guadalcanal, sending troops and supplies to Malta and Cairo, or whatever else we want without having specialized landing craft or other special ships for each scenario. You've got me thinking about how to set the mood for specific scenarios (use big chunks of ice for the Arctic convoy run!) and possible different ways of running cargo (1 cargo = 1 sink, holes don't count). I'll discuss it at the weekend build session.
I think it would be great to set up such a scenario, especially for big gun. However, it'd necessitate setting up some barriers along the shoreline behind the shore emplacement to protect the spectators and captains. It'd also be easier to set up if the pond used were on private land so that the beach could be created ahead of time. I imagine that Higgins boats would be nearly as difficult to build as PT Boats, if not more so and conceivably, quite a few would inevitably get swamped or capsized just trying to navigte the water to make it to shore, to say nothing of how many might sink from the shore batteries.
I wouldn't say hard, persay, but it would require coordination and quite a bit of work to make the preparations necessary to set up such a scenario.
I have been toying with a PT for some time now. . I have seen a 144 scale PT. The radio gear and batteries takes up almost the entire hull! With a Higgins boat, I can not picture gear small enough to fit inside of the hull! It may have to put into a box in the cargo area! Thus no room for toy soldiers, jeeps, etc.
For Higgins boats, without having attempted it, I think the best approach would be to use off-the-shelf micro rc boats, simply repackaging their hardware into an all-balsa hull. It just might be possible....
Think hard about what objectives you'd have for each side. What does each side have to do to be able to come away with a "win"? As far as details are concerned, be careful about relying too much on specific ships, equipment, etc. You've got to be able to run with what actually shows up on battle day. I may be wrong, but I'm assuming that you're using the term "D-Day" the way that most people do, connecting it with Operation Overloard/Normandy invasion, as opposed to using it in the more generic planning sense. If so, there wasn't much naval involvement from the Axis in the original battle that converts to anything meaningful for the model ships. JM
I think it would almost impossible for shore batteries to sink the landing craft. They would be shooting at the front of the ship since it would be heading toward the shore. you would have to have a large beach head with a lot of shore batteries spread out so that you could get a shot at penetrable area.
That's where I would specifically recommend a variance in the conventional rules. Since the bow is essentially an angled flat plate, I'd want them to be standardized to something along the lines of 1/32 balsa to make them reasonably representative of the prototype and be fundamentally vulnerable to naval gun fire. Also, I don't believe it would be appropriate to make the scenario to strictly represent a real amphibious landing; I would think that the defenders should be permitted to operate a limited quantity of cruisers and/or destroyers that would be numerically inferior to the attacking force.
I am also thinking about how much draft a Higgins boat has. If I were to build one, I would do it without the additional 3/8! That way she would sit on top of the water, and have very little below the water line to hit!
